Arts Council funds Charlotte Symphony

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Although the sour economy is shrinking its grants pool, the Arts & Science Council will provide $900,000 in operating support to the Charlotte Symphony for fiscal 2010.

That’s down from last year’s support of $1.95 million, which represented 17 percent of the council’s grants program.

The council will provide $75,000 to the symphony this summer, with additional funds awarded contingent on the council’s “satisfactory review” of the symphony’s new strategic plan.

“We provide this restricted funding to support the Charlotte Symphony’s determination and implementation of a new strategic path forward that is economically viable,” Lee Keesler, president and CEO of the council, says in a statement.

The council will appoint a committee comprised of board members and staff to review the symphony’s new plans.

The symphony has received a total of $26.2 million in grants from the council since it started receiving grants from the funder in 1958.